40 Comments
Aug 7, 2020Liked by Matt Stoller

Thank you for producing actual, thought-provoking, factually-based journalism. It is deeply appreciated.

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Aug 7, 2020Liked by Matt Stoller

Matt, this is an excellent analysis. The part about how Facebook worked to stop Vine and then helped TikTok get going is especially interesting.

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Aug 9, 2020Liked by Matt Stoller

South Korea is an example of Balkanized internet. There, they mostly use Naver instead of Google. I think Naver is more of an integrated search/web/social/etc. experience than Google as well.

Additionally, Google refused to comply with SK's confidentiality requests regarding map data, so now they don't share any map data with Google.

I didn't realize any of this when I visited the first time, and was confused and frustrated that I couldn't use Google Maps to navigate my way around. Once I learned I could just use Naver/Naver Maps, everything was a breeze. I don't think Balkanization of search and web applications by country or region would necessarily be a bad thing, provided it's easy enough to learn what the options are in each place.

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Aug 8, 2020Liked by Matt Stoller

Hi Matt. Have you heard about the DOJ repealing the Paramount Decree? I would like to know your thoughts on how that might effect the entertainment industry going forward. Cheers.

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Aug 7, 2020Liked by Matt Stoller

Hi Matt. An ex-NSA technical director (signals intelligence) tells me that TikTok and several other Chinese platforms are a security threat.

In the case of TikTok, it harvests all sorts of information from users' tablets and phones (and presumably computers): photos; names; addresses; contacts; texts; private messages; you name it.

In the future, young users will find it ... unfortunate ... that the Chinese (meaning its government and security services) will have secret and embarassing info about them.

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Trusts are definitely a problem. The interaction between Trusts and the Federal government are the big problem. How did these companies grow so quickly? Most of them have major revenues streams from the U.S. government. Microsoft and Amazon are the obvious examples but there are others.

Facebook has been accused of selling data on individuals they collect to the government. Of course, that would imply that the government is already performing a social credit program. I have no proof that this is correct so I will take off my tin-hat on this topic.

I am particularly interested in reading your analysis of Warren Buffett. it is not hard to recognize the track record of Warren Buffett and Berkshire-Hathaway. Few people recognize, however, how much Berkshire-Hathaway has benefited from government interactions. GEICO is an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company.

Ever wonder how Berkshire-Hathaway got such excellent deals on purchasing banks/bank shares like Wells Fargo and Bank of America? Warren had the money to purchase the money when the U.S. government really needed help in propping them up. They needed that money so badly that they offered GUARANTEES on the expected returns from his investments in the banks during the crash of 2007 and 2008.

Could that be why Berkshire-Hathaway is holding so much cash now? I don't know.

You are doing very important work here and you are doing it without screaming political positions. I love reading your analyses, Matt. Thank you.

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Kai-Fu Lee, who was head of Google China before Google left China in 2010, compared the treatment of Google in China with that of TikTok in the U.S:

"When Google exited China, I had already left the company. However, the environment and regulations were very clear:

"Foreign internet companies that want to enter the Chinese market need to comply with laws and regulations, which are described very clearly (joint venture, ICP certificate, servers in China, content, etc.).

"Those who are willing to observe these laws can apply to enter. Google entered in just this way.

"When Google later felt unwilling to observe these laws, it decided to leave.

"The U.S. did not lay out what TikTok would need to do to continue operating, and never gave any evidence whatsoever to back up its accusations about the company. 

"Forcing the company’s sale, giving only 45 days to do so, and charging a middleman’s fee — these things are not only incomparable to Google, but inconceivable."

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Matt ... so sorry for my other comment, and lesson learned. I'll make it a point to not bring up outside subjects in future comments. BIG isn't a forum for flame wars. Cheers! Zippy

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In a sense, these black-list model is very well stablished in the financial world of developing countries. In Brazil, for instance, there is the Serasa score and it's a risk estimation any given person has on defaulting. This list is updated regularly by banks and private companies as a given customer misses a due payment. Banks institutions can then deny (or discriminate) access to credit based on your score. This creates a side-effect of making hard for the average citizen to have access to the finance system and limit their potential income. In a country were credit is rare and not a commodity this make even harder to finance new business and ventures. The difference here is that we are talking about black-listing persons to send and receive bits of information over a shared computer network through a software app, but appears to me the dynamics of IT and Finance markets are very close.

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"there is actually a pretty good argument that countries should have control over their own social and search ecosystems." What argument(s) do you have in mind?

I'm quite curious because at initial glance, the nationalization of the internet (which, if I understand correctly, is what this would amount to) doesn't have obvious upsides and some significant downsides (censorship-creep, less idea exchange, not being able to talk to your international relatives).

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Comparing TikTok ban in US to Google ban in China is inappropriate. Google exit of China because it didn't want to comply China law, while Bing can stay and comply China law. However, Tiktok complies US law, but still banned by an executive order. I think this is far worse case than the google case. At least the google case has a clear rules while Tiktok case doesn't.

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Matt,

Greetings from London.

Love reading your thought proving column.

My view - it is about trust.

CCP - Chinese Communist Party cannot be trusted.

I am believer in not what people 'say' .

But what they 'do'.

CCP plays lip service to rule of law. And will do anything to gain unfair advantage.

Their past behaviour on may issues proves you cannot trust them.

It is unfortunate the internet will split between dictatorship's and rest of the world.

China, Russia, Iran, Turkey moving in that direction.

So in reality it already split.

We will need to regulate bi tech in the rest of the world in some way - to protect our/people's data.

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Matt, can you point me towards evidence TenCent has a stake in Kakao please?

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Microsoft is set to buy that part of TikTok that is in the American market. Matt Stoller notes that action will not do anything to limit monopolization in this market, but will enhance it.

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Social scores and their consequences were depicted to frightening affect in the Black Mirror episode "Nosedive" starring Bryce Dallas Howard. That's the not-so-distant future. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosedive_(Black_Mirror)

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Given the recent hearings/inevitable doj suit against facebook, do you think vine-tiktok behavior will be one of the SA s2 claims they raise? or will they only focus on instagram and that market to avoid another microsoft mess?

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